Research

The Section of Hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) Surgery is dedicated to pioneering new treatments for pancreas, liver, sarcoma, and peritoneal cancer through basic and clinical research.

Our Surgical Oncology Research Group meets regularly to discuss the latest areas of investigation in the field, and we present frequently at national meetings.

Through ongoing research and clinical trials, we aim to improve outcomes. As part of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, we belong to an alliance of the country’s top cancer centers committed to improving patient care, research, and education.

Recent research projects include:

• Pancreatic cancer registry: Optimizing efficacy of multimodality therapies for pancreatic cancer
• Immune system’s response in pancreatic cancer
• Role of surgery in metastatic pancreatic cancer
• Enhanced recovery with minimally invasive surgery after pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple)
• Liver registry

• Discovery of novel therapeutic strategies for cholangiocarcinoma: We apply high throughput, unbiased techniques to study functional genomics and molecular signaling pathways in cholangiocarcinoma, so as to identify tumor-specific dependencies, novel therapeutic agents, and/or targetable pathways, ultimately translating into clinical trials and improved patient outcomes.

Research Labs

Pancreatic Cancer Research Laboratory

Dr. Allen’s laboratory focuses on translational research in the realm of pancreatic disease and cancer. The main focus of the laboratory is in studying a cystic precursor lesion of pancreatic adenocarcinoma called Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm (IPMN). 

Dr. Nussbaum’s research focuses on expanding our fundamental understanding of distant metastasis in pancreatic cancer, and then developing novel strategies to prevent disease progression in order to improve cure rates for this aggressive malignancy. This requires devising model systems of the earliest events in pancreatic cancer cell dissemination, implementing cutting edge approaches to investigate how these cells survive and proliferate in a foreign microenvironment, and ultimately translating these findings into early phase clinical trials.